Chinese are not buying United CEO's apology over plane dragging incident

A
video screengrab shows passenger David Dao being dragged off a
United Airlines flight at Chicago O'Hare International Airport in
this video filmed by @JayseDavidThomson Reuters

(South China Morning Post) — An apology on Wednesday by United
Airlines chief executive officer Oscar Munoz failed to quell
Chinese furor over the manhandling of an Asian -American
passenger on one of the US carrier’s flights.

The apology followed a global backlash over the dragging of
69-year-old doctor David Dao off an aircraft after he refused to
be bumped from an overbooked flight in Chicago on Sunday.

Dao – whose lawyers said was hospitalised – was initially
identified as Chinese-American but later media reports said he
was a Vietnamese-American living in the US state of Kentucky.

“I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight and I
deeply apologise to the customer forcibly removed and to all the
customers aboard,” Munoz said in a statement, describing the
incident as “truly horrific."

He told ABC News the carrier would no longer use law
enforcement officers to remove passengers from overbooked
flights, adding that Dao was not at fault.

The White House also weighed in, with press secretary Sean Spicer
saying “it is troubling to see how that was handled”.

Many Chinese have used the incident to raise awareness of racial
discrimination.

Chinese American Citizens ­Alliance ­national president ­Edmund
Gor called for the carrier to say what steps it was taking to
remedy ­company policy.

“You can apologise today to one guy, but what happens tomorrow?”
Gor asked.

United Airlines CEO Oscar
Munoz.AP Photo/Richard
Drew

Based on initial reports ­suggesting that Dao was
Chinese-American, Zhang Zishi, an 18-year-old from Shandong
province studying in Britain, launched an online White House
petition for an investigation with the hashtag
#Chineselivesmatters.

It had attracted more than 180,000 signatures by Wednesday night.

“Regardless of his ethnicity, he shouldn’t be treated like that.
Every human being should be respected,” Zhang said. “Regardless
of which version [of the passenger’s ethnicity] we follow, my
petition is still relevant because the stereotypes still exist.”

In China, a social media topic page of the saga had been viewed
770 million times by last night.

China’s Communist Party mouthpiece, People’s Daily, said
on its social media account on Tuesday that United Airlines was
“arrogant and cold-blooded”.